Deperdussin-Racer - $4.95

Designed as a racing aircraft, the Deperdussin Monocoque was a slim, single-seated plane with a sleek aerodynamic build that was the first of a large range of similar designs that would come in later years. The design is noted for winning the Gordon Bennett Trophy in 1912.

Deperdussin Racer

The Bechereau Deperdussin 1913 Racer

The Bechereau Deperdussin Racer was perhaps 15 years ahead of it's time with new and innovative streamlining.

Not surprisingly, it won many races and records and is, IMHO, the first real racing plane.

The best-known Deperdussin aircraft was this little Monocoque racer, which had exceptionally clean lines... in it Maurice Prevost set a world speed record in September 1913.

What people say...

Chip, I humbly send to you a couple of pix of your Deperdussin Racer (1913)....The "shine" comes from the gum arabic I've gone on about in the past...The "nose" is a combination red-tinted "Elmers" with a couple of final coats of red-tinted gum arabic. Many thanks for your work. The Racer CD is definitely a keeper .Wayne

Deperdussin 1913 Racer

Wealthy French silk merchant Armand Deperdussin founded
his aircraft-building company Societe Pour les Appareils Deperdussin
(SPAD) at Betheny near Reims, in 1910. He was fortunate in employing
Louis Bechereau to be responsible for the running of the company
and later engaged a young engineering graduate named Andre Herbemont.
These two brought undying fame to the original short-lived SPAD
organization, which went into liquidation in 1913 after Deperdussin
had been arrested for embezzlement.

Bechereau designed a series of monoplanes of increasing capability,
perfecting a monocoque form of fuselage construction that combined
a desirable circular cross-section with light weight and strength.
Typically, the Deperdussin's were braced high-wing monoplanes,
two king-posts on the forward fuselage carrying a skein of wires
to brace the slender wings Lateral control was by wing warping.
Landing gear was normally of fixed tailskid type, but sea plane
versions had, for their day, a very neat float installation Power
was provided for most of the range by Gnome rotary engines of
various power outputs.

A first major success came on 9 September 1912, when a Deperdussin
powered by a 160hp Gnome and piloted by Jules Vedrines
won the fourth James Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup race at Chicago,
Illinois. Even greater were the achievements of 1913, Maurice
Prevost winning the first Schneider Trophy race at Monaco on 16
April, the Gordon Bennett Cup at Reims, France, on 29 September,
and setting a world absolute speed record of 126.67
mph on the same date To complete the year's achievements, a Deperdussin
piloted by Eugene Gilbert won the Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe
air race around Paris on 27 October. Thus, in a few months Bechereau and Herbemont had created for Deperdussin the world's fastest
prewar aeroplane from this pinnacle of achievement came collapse
of the Deperdussin company. It was taken over by Louis Bleriot
and renamed Societe Pour L'Aviation et ses Derives (also SPAD),
which gained fame for its products during World War I.

The first plane to break the 124 mph 'barrier', and the first
Schneider Trophy winner, was Armand Deperdussin's monoplane. It
was the 'speed phenomenon' of the years before the First World
War. The plane was developed early in 1912 by Louis Bechereau,
the designer for the Socie'te pour les Appareils Deperdussin.
Bechereau worked from an idea by Swedish engineer Ruchonnet, and
developed a streamlined monocoque plywood fuselage with a large
spinner. To achieve maximum power two Gnome rotaries were mounted
on a common crankshaft. The first noteworthy achievement of this
plane was the 1912 Gordon Bennett Cup, which it won with a speed
of 108.1 mph. The plane won the cup again the following year,
on September 29,1913 in Reims, Maurice Prevost achieving an average
of 124.6 mph . During this race the plane beat the world speed
record three times, and its maximum speed was 126.7 mph.

A few months earlier, in April 1913, Prevost had won another
exceptional victory at the controls of the floatplane version
of the Deperdussin monoplane: first place in the first race for
the Schneider Trophy in Monaco, with an average speed of 45.75
mph . The low speed was due to the fact that the judges made Prevost
repeat his take-off and about six miles of the course because
of a supposed violation of the rules. This Deperdussin victory
was the only time in the history of the Schneider Trophy (1912-31)
that France won a race.